Chair

ABSTRACT

An office chair of the reclining type which is supported by the base and a standard, the chair having a back and a seat, the seat having a front portion and a rear portion, the rear portion of the seat being connected to the back, the front and rear portion of the seat being hingedly interconnected, there being a link interconnecting the rear portion with the front portion of the seat whereby, when the chair is reclined, the rear portion of the seat will assume an angular position and the front portion of the seat will retain its initially, substantially horizontal position to thereby maintain the user of the chair in a true posture position.

nited States Patent 11 1 Cramer 1 CHAIR [76] Inventor: Harold W. Cramer, 8419 Linden,

Prairie Village, Kans.

[22] Filed: Oct. 5, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 77,816

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 826,819, May 22,

[52] US. Cl 297/302, 297/305, 297/313 [51] Int. Cl. A47c 1/02 [58] Field of Search 297/312, 313, 284, 297/201, 300, 301, 304, 305, 321, 302, 303, 316, 88, 271

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,954,819 10/1960 Mohler 297/88 2,112,678 3/1938 Rausch 297/271 X 586,610 7/1897 Lee.......... 297/88 1,241,171 9/1917 Vitullo 297/88 1,836,630 12/1931 Thum 297/326 X 2,838,095 6/1958 Deaton 297/305 2,545,950 3/1951 Fox 297/303 X Primary Examiner-Francis K. Zugel Attorney-Schmidt, Johnson, Hovey, Williams &

Chase [57] ABSTRACT I An office chair of the reclining type which is supported by the base and a standard, the chair having a back and a seat, the seat having a front portion and a rear portion, the rear portion of the seat being connected to the back, the front and rear portion of the seat being hingedly interconnected, there being a link interconnecting the rear portion with the front portion of the seat whereby, when the chair is reclined, the rear portion of the seat will assume an angular position and the front portion of the seat will retain its initially, substantially horizontal position to thereby maintain the user of the chair in a true posture position.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CHAIR CROSS REFERENCES This is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 826,819, filed May 22, 1969, and entitled CHAIR.

This invention relates to office chairs of the reclining type, which chairs are normally adjustable in height so that the user thereof may be positioned in the most comfortable position relative to an adjacent worksurface. Such chairs are often reclined during the use thereof. 1

It is the most important object of this invention to provide a chair having a seat supported by a base and a standard, the seat having a front portion and a rear portion, the portions being hingedly interconnected, the rear portion being connected to the back of the chair, there being a link interconnecting the front portion of the seat with the rear portion of the seat whereby, when the chair is reclined, the back of the chair and the rear portion of the seat will assume an angular position, the front portion of the seat retaining its initial, substantially horizontal position whereby to permit the feet of the user of the chair to remain flat on the floor with no stretched muscles or under-leg pressure.

It is a yet further object of this invention to provide chair supporting structure wherein the standard, which is carried by the base of the chair, is provided with a bracket, there being a spider which is carried by the rear portion of the seat, the bracket and the spider being pivotally interconnected about a horizontal axis, the chair being reclinable about said axis.

A yet further object of this invention is to provide, in chair supporting structure, a link which is connected to the bracket, one end of the link being connected to the bracket by a fixed connection, the other end of the link being pivotally connected with the front portion of the seat whereby, as the seat is reclined, the rear portion thereof and its connected back, will be permitted to recline about said horizontal axis and the front portion of the seat will be retained in its substantially horizontal position, all to the end that maximum comfort is provided for the user of the chair.

Other objects include details of construction which will become apparent from the following specification and accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of an office chair of the type hereinafter described; 7

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, side elevational view of the chair supporting structure;

FIG. 3 is a plan view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

The typical office chair includes a base 12 made up of a plurality of legs,'rollers or casters normally being provided at the lowermost ends of said legs to facilitate movement of the chair. The base 12 supports a normally vertically positioned, upwardly extending standard 14 which is provided with threads whereby the vertical position of the chair may be adjusted by the user thereof. A chair seat 16 is supported by the standard 14, the chair 10 also being provided with a back 18.

In the embodiment of the invention chosen for illustration, the back 18, which is normally in a substantially vertical plane, is connected to the seat 16, which seat 16 is normally in a substantially horizontal plane. The interconnection of the seat 16 and the back 18 is accomplished by utilizing the arm assembly 20, there being pins, such as 22, extending through the upright portion of the arm assembly 20 and into the back 18 whereby to interconnect said arm assembly 20 with the back on each side thereof. Furthermore, the arm assembly 20 is provided, adjacent its lower end, with inwardly extending extensions 24, which extensions 24 are secured to the bottom surface 26 of the seat 16. As will be appreciated, this provides a rigid interconnection between the seat 16 and, more particularly, the rear portion 28 thereof and the back 18 of the chair 10. The front portion 30 of the seat 16 is not directly connected to the back 18 of the chair 10.

The seat 16 of chair 10 is supported by standard 14 through the provision of a bracket 32 which is carried at the normally uppermost end of the standard 14 as shown for instance, in FIG. 4 of the drawing, the bracket 32 being of the type normally provided in a chair support when it is desired to permit reclining of the chair, there being tensioning structure 34 coupled with the bracket 32 whereby to permit control of the reclining of the chair 10, the bracket 32 and tensioning structure 34 being similar in nature to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,368,844.

It will be noted that the front portion 30 of chair seat 16 is of smaller transverse dimension than the rear portion 28 and that the front portion 30 is hingedly connected with the rear portion 28 as by a continuous hinge 36 which extends longitudinally of portions 28 and 30 and is suitably secured to the lower surface 26 of rear portion 28 and the lower surface 38 of the front portion 30 whereby said portions 28 and 30 may swing relative to one another.

To accomplish the desired relative swinging movement between the rear portion 28 and the front portion 30, the rear portion 28 is connected to bracket 32 by means of a spider 40, which spider includes a pair of angles 42 secured to the lower surface 26 of rear portion 28, the angles 42 essentially spanning the transverse width of the lower surface 26 of rear portion 28 and being secured at their forwardmost ends to the corresponding portion of hinge 36 as shown for instance, in FIG. 4 of the drawing.

The downwardly extending legs of angles 42 are pivotally connected to the bracket 32 by means of a pin 44, which pin spans the distance between the spacedapart angles 42 and is suitably retained by the box-like bracket 32 as shown for instance, in FIG. 5 of the drawing. Pin 44 lies in a substantially horizontal plane whereby to provide a horizontal axis about which the chair seat 16 may be reclined. In order to limit the re cliningmovement of the chair seat 16 and to also retain front portion 30 of the seat 16 in its horizontal position when the rear portion 28 is angularly disposed, there is provided a link 46, which link interconnects the rear portion 28 of the seat 16 with the front portion 30 thereof.

One end 48 of the link 46 is connected with the bracket 32 by means of a pair of spaced, depending ears 50 which extend downwardly from the bracket 32,

and a pin 52 which extends through said one end 48 of the link 46 and is received within the ears 50, there being a cotter pin 54 carried by said pin' 52 whereby to prevent longitudinal shifting movement thereof. The

interconnection of one end 48 of the link 46 with the bracket 32 by means of cars 50 and pin 52, provides connection between the link 46 and the rear portion 28 of the seat 16. The link 46 is swingable, to a limited degree, about its point of interconnection with bracket 32.

The other end 56 of the link 46 is pivotally connected with the front portion 30 of the seat 16 by means of a pair of depending lugs 58 carried at spaced-apart positions on the lower surface 38 of the front portion 30 and, more particularly, on the downward face of hinge 36, there being a pin 60 spanning the distance between the lugs 58 and extending through said other end 56 of the link 46 whereby to provide a pivotal connection between said link 46 and the front portion 30 of the seat 16. A cotter pin 62 is carried through the pin 60 whereby to prevent longitudinal shifting movement thereof.

it will be noted that the link 46 is of generally triangular configuration whereby to present a base edge 64 lying in a plane substantially parallel to the lower surfaces 26 and 38 respectively; an edge 66 which is adjacent the said one end 48 of the link 46 and which edge 66 is positioned essentially perpendicular to the lower surface 26 of rear portion 28; and a joining edge 68 which is angularly disposed with respect to the lower surfaces 26 and 38 and which is inclined angularly upwardly from said one end 48 to the other end 56. The link 46 includes two side plates of the triangular configuration above described, the side plates 70 being interconnected by a faceplate 72 which serves to join said side plates 72 and add strength and rigidity to the link 46. As is shown for instance in FIG. 3 of the drawing, the tensioning assembly 34 extends forwardly from the support 32 and through a suitable aperture 74 provided in faceplate 72 whereby the adjusting screw 76 of the tensioning assembly 34 is positioned adjacent the nor mally forwardmost edge 78 of the front portion 30 of the seat 16 to thereby be readily accessible to a user of the chair 10.

When the chair is placed into use and normally positioned, the seat 16 assumes a substantially horizontal position initially, the back 18 lying in a substantially vertical plane. When the user of the chair desires to recline the same as by leaning backwardly in the chair and moving against the tension of device 34, the back l8will be shifted for instance, from the full-line position of FIG. 1 to the dotted-line position thereof.

Inasmuch as the back 18 is connected with the rear portion 28 of the seat 16 in the manner hereinabove described, such reclining movement of the chair about the pivot 44 will cause the rear portion 28 of the seat to shift from its initially horizontal position into the angular position shown in the dotted lines of FIG. 2. When the rear portion 28 assumes such angular position, the provision of the interconnecting means between the rear portion 28 and the front portion 30, and specifically the spider 40, the bracket 32 and the link 46 will permit the front portion 30 of the seat 16 to retain its initial, substantially horizontal position.

By virtue of the front portion remaining in an essentially horizontal position, the user of the chair will be retained in his true posture position with his feet still on the floor and with no pressure being exerted beneath the upper legs of the user as would be the case if the front portion 30 of, the seat were to assume the same relative angular position as does rear portion 28 when the seat 16 is reclined. This permits the chair to be reclined to virtually any angle, whereupon the rear portion 28 of the seat is, in effect, lowered, while the front seat portion 30 retains its horizontal plane, all to the end that the user may be more comfortably and continuously supported in the chair 10 as the same is normally utilized. It should be noted that, in the embodiment illustrated, the seat 16 is provided with a suitable cushion 80 to comfortably support the user of the chair l0 and the back 18 is suitably cushioned as by member 82, all to the end that the chair might be quite comfortable in use while having the benefit of the additional comfort factors hereinabove described due to the construction of the seat supporting structure.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a chair having a base, a standard carried by the base and a back, a chair seat supported by said standard, said seat having a front portion and a rear portion, said portions being hingedly interconnected and initially lying in a common, substantially horizontal plane, the rear portion being connected to the back of the chair, the back initially lying in a substantially vertical plane; a bracket carried by the standard, the rear portion of the seat being pivotally coupled thereto, said coupling providing a horizontal axis about which the chair may be reclined; a link of fixed length pivotally connected to the bracket and to the front portion of the seat, the link being swingable about its point of interconnection with the bracket, the front portion of the seat being pivotable about its point of interconnection with the link, said point of interconnection with the front portion of the seat being forwardly and above the point of interconnection with the bracket whereby, when the chair is reclined said rear portion and the back will assume an angular position and the front portion will be retained in its substantially horizontal position.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1, said link spanning the point of hinged interconnection of the rear portion and the front portion of the seat, said point of hinged interconnection being rearwardly and above the point of interconnection of the link and the front portion of the seat.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 2, said point of hinged interconnection of the rear portion and the front portion of the seat being forwardly of the point of interconnection of the link and the bracket and above said point a greater distance than the point of interconnection of the link and the front portion of the seat.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 3, said point of hinged interconnection being adjacent the lower surface of said front and rear portions.

' II t l t t 

1. In combination with a chair having a base, a standard carried by the base and a back, a chair seat supported by said standard, said seat having a front portion and a rear portion, said portions being hingedly interconnected and initially lying in a common, substantially horizontal plane, the rear portion being connected to the back of the chair, the back initially lying in a substantially vertical plane; a bracket carried by the standard, the rear portion of the seat being pivotally coupled thereto, said coupling providing a horizontal axis about which the chair may be reclined; a link of fixed length pivotally connected to the bracket and to the front portion of the seat, the link being swingable about its point of interconnection with the bracket, the front portion of the seat being pivotable about its point of interconnection with the link, said point of interconnection with the front portion of the seat being forwardly and above the point of interconnection with the bracket whereby, when the chair is reclined said rear portion and the back will assume an angular position and the front portion will be retained in its substantially horizontal position.
 2. The invention as set forth in claim 1, said link spanning the point of hinged interconnection of the rear portion and the front portion of the seat, said point of hinged interconnection being rearwardly and above the point of interconnection of the link and the front portion of the seat.
 3. The invention as set forth in claim 2, said point of hinged interconnection of the rear portion and the front portion of the seat being forwardly of the point of interconnection of the link and the bracket and above said point a greater distance than the point of interconnection of the link and the front portion of the seat.
 4. The invention as set forth in claim 3, said point of hinged interconnection being adjacent the lower surface of said front and rear portions. 